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group
1
North Florida UNF 10-10,9-5 ASUN
3
Winner Lipscomb Lips 16-2,13-1 ASUN
North Florida UNF
10-10,9-5 ASUN
1
Final
3
Lipscomb Lips
16-2,13-1 ASUN
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
North Florida UNF 31 23 24 22 (1)
Lipscomb Lips 29 25 26 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | | Kirk Downs

Volleyball defeats UNF 3-1, advances to 10th ASUN Championship match

KENNESAW, Ga. – The North's top-seeded Lipscomb volleyball team advanced to its 10th ASUN Conference title match with a 3-1 victory over No. 2 North Florida in the ASUN semifinals Friday at the KSU Convocation Center in Kennesaw.

On a collision course all season Lipscomb and Florida Gulf Coast, the ASUN's two top seeds, will meet in Saturday's championship match at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+. The Eagles won the South Division and swept host Kennesaw State 3-0 in the other semifinal match on Friday.

Senior Sami Rubal led the Bisons with 16 kills and a .452 swinging percentage. She also finished with two blocks and a career high five digs.

Fellow senior Megan Kuper added 15 kills, seven digs, two blocks and an ace. After a slow start with four attack errors in the first, she closed the match with 10 kills and just one miscue over the final three frames.

Meg Mersman had herself a day in the middle alongside Rubal. The freshman from Greenback, Tennessee recorded a career high 14 kills, swung .357, and matched her career high with seven blocks.

Delaney Dilfer had another strong game at setter with a career high 53 assists to go along with four kills and four blocks.

Ashley Maher had a career day at the service line with four of the Bisons nine aces, while Alyssa Zwolensky led the team with a season high 20 digs.

 
SET ONE
The Bisons served up an ace from Brooke Phillips to get the match started and built a 10-5 lead before the Ospreys (10-10) eventually moved in front for the first time at 13-12. After trading points over the next bit, UNF held its first set point at 24-21 before Lipscomb won the next four points with a kill from Mersman and two aces from Maher. The purple and gold fought off five set points before the Ospreys finally pulled it out, 31-29. It was only the third time this season the Bisons had lost the opening set while UNF won the hitting battle .205 to .062.


 
SET TWO
Neither side could get a larger lead than two until the Bisons reeled off a 5-1 run with bookend swings from Kuper and Mersman to go up 12-7. Tied at 15, Dilfer got a quick kill before Kuper and Mersman extended the lead to 22-18. The Ospreys would battle back even and fended off two set points when Mersman slammed home her fifth kill of the set to give Lipscomb a 25-23 win and level the match.


 
SET THREE
With the momentum swinging in the Bisons favor, another fast start put the team up 11-5 behind an 8-2 run. Maher's fourth ace of the match made it 15-8 before UNF began chipping away. The Ospreys trailed 21-17 and then worked their way back in front at 24-23 despite trailing for all but three points in the frame. After Dilfer evened the score on a kill, Kuper served up a ball that landed on the back line and Rubal slammed down her fourth kill of the set to win the frame for Lipscomb, 26-24. Three players hit over .400 in the set and the Bisons outhit the Ospreys .300 to .129 with 13 kills and 11 digs.


 
SET FOUR
In the final neither side could get more than a two-point advantage early on until Mersman sparked a three-point run to grab a 13-9 lead for the purple and gold. Bacus put down back-to-back kills to extend the breathing room and added another to make it 19-15. UNF managed to trim its deficit to two, but with the championship match in site, Lipscomb pushed down the gas and got two kills from Rubal to finish off the match and win 25-22. Rubal hit .600 in the frame with a team-high six kills on 10 swings, while Kuper (4), Bacus (3) and Mersman (3) helped the group put down 16 of the 18 kills in the set.


 
FROM THE BENCH
 


 
HERD NOTES
  • The Bisons improve to 25-3 all-time against UNF, having won 16 in a row in the series.
  • Lipscomb outhit UNF .215 to .184 with 62 kills compared to their 55.
  • The Bisons had only lost the first set twice coming into Friday. They split those matches, defeating KSU 3-1.
  • Lipscomb blocked a season high 10.0 balls. UNF finished with 11.0.
  • The team's 59 assists were a season high, while the nine aces matched a season best.
  • Ashleigh Albert got the second start of her career in the absence of Delaney Smith. The freshman finished second on the squad with a career high nine digs and two aces.
  • Bacus chipped in eight kills, while Garrett Joiner added four and Lanie Wagner one.
  • There were 34 ties and 13 lead changes throughout the match.
  • Lipscomb is 6-3 all-time in the championship match. The last title came in 2016.



 
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